"They are looking into the matter and they will make contact with the boy's mother," Mr Evans said.

Mrs Young also wrote to Peabody Energy, owner of the mine at Helensburgh, urging them to conduct soil and air testing at her property and at Helensburgh Public School.

A NSW Department of Education and Communities spokeswoman said the school was "happy to co-operate with any soil testing or air monitoring on the school grounds".

A Peabody spokeswoman said the company's environment and community manager met yesterday with Mrs Young to "ascertain how we may be able to assist in creating the best environment for Matthew's recovery".

The company was "currently monitoring dust" at the school, she said.

"The NSW Minerals Council is undertaking air studies and we are providing data from the school for that study," the spokeswoman said, adding a review was expected by the end of the year.

"We understand that there is genuine concern in the community about the impact of what we do and we take those concerns very seriously," she said.

"It is difficult to quantify the impact of any one industry in an area because there are so many contributors to our everyday health."

Air quality levels around mine sites were heavily regulated by standards adopted by the NSW government and set nationally under the National Environment Protection Measure, she said.

Air quality in the Illawarra is generally good, with relatively few numbers of exceedences across the region last year, according to an Environment Protection Authority report.

The Peabody spokeswoman said coal dust was not a major contributor to fine particle (2.5 microns and smaller) pollution in the Illawarra.

"There were no PM2.5 exceedences from the Wollongong monitor last year," she said.